Method of cooking meats



Patented Nov. 22, 1938 V aisaaas y METHOD or cooxmc MEATS Barry 11.] McKee, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Industrial Patents Corporation, Chicago, Ill,- a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Application May c, ms. Serial No. seas-1s 1 b 6 Claims. (oi. 99-101) This invention relates to a method of treating meat products and to the product of such method. One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a method for treating meat products. Another object is to provide a method for treatin'g hams whereby a cooked, smoked barn is produced which is exceptionally tender, having unusual flavor. Another object of the invention is to provide a method whereby hams may be sil0 multaneously cooked and smoked producing thereby a product unlike the product of separate cook and smoke.

i Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the description and claims which follow.

It will be understood that the practice of the invention as applied to hams is herein described bywaypt illustration and not by way of limitation, the invention being applicable to all types of meatprod'ucts.

I will discuss as an example, treatment of sweet pickle hams. I first soak the hams coming from pickle for from eight to twelve hours depending upon the average temperature. In case of bonein hams after removal from soaking-vats, the

individual hams are hung in the smoke house or oven on standard meat trolleys. The hams may be encased in a stockinette and hung in accordance with conventional practice or in any other desired manner. i

When ,thesmokehouse is filled with hams, the air temperature is raised to 190 to 195 F. and the humidity is raised'to the saturation point by the use or an open steam line in the oven. Smoke is applied simultaneously. The temperature of from 190 to 195 is maintained with the saturat ed air condition and a good smudge of smoke until the inside temperature of the hams has been raised to about 125, which usually occurs between three to six hours from the beginning of the 0 treatment. The air temperature is then reduced from 160 to 165 F. and the humidity is lowered, corresponding to'the reduction in air'temperatur-e, being maintained, however, at the saturation point for the new temperature. The

temperature 0! from 160 to 165 is then maintained for an additional ten to thirteen hours,

making the total smoking and cooking time approximately sixteen hours. At the end of the sixteen hours the approximate inside temperature of the ham is from 156 to 169.1.

A boneless ham may be treated to the same process after pressing. Boneless hams are preferably treated to the. process of the present invention by being placed in the smokehouse while contained in the usual type of cooking container UNl'l'ED STATES. PATENT OFF-ICE designed for cooking boneless hams in water. After the boneless hams in such containers have been in the heated smoke house for a few hours the natural juices of the meat begin to cock out and come up above the cover. These juices are 5 necessarily subjected to the action of the smoke smudge and absorb the smoke flavor which is carried downinto the meat during the smoking and cooking process. It is desirable to chill in. the container with the ham submerged in its own 10 natural juice, when much 'of the 'cooked out natural juice is reabsorbed by the meat. 'I'hus,'it will be seen that the presentinvention involves simultaneous cooking and smoking and offers an v extremely satisfactory method of producing a 15 smoked boneless cooked ham;

It is desirable to filter the smoke with any suitable filtering material to remove dirt and other undesirable elements.

After the hams have been thus simultaneously 20 v smoked and cooked. they may be removed from the smokehouse and after being .chilled tor approximately two hours, rubbed with sugarand browned to the desired degree with a hot flame. Hams so treated are then chilled in atempera- 2 ture from 34 to 38 F. for about twenty-four hours before shipping.

The present inventionpresents many advan-v tages in the cooking of hams since itcontemplates simultaneously smoking and cooking and permits cooking for longer periods of time, that is. from fifteen toeighteen hours with temperatures from 165 to 195 F. with less resulting shrink in the case of bone-in hams than would result from cooking in water from three and one- 35 halt to four hours at a temperature of from to The new combination of high temperature. humid air and smoke results in increased tenderness and improvement in flavor. 40

It should be noted'that during the first three or four hours of the treatment very high temperatures are used. During this time, due to the high temperature and high humidity, gelatine is released from the skin and surfaces of the ham 45 and forms'acoating thereover which acts as a seal preventing the escape of moisture and natu- 1 ml i'lavors. thus bringing about the result of low shrink and improved flavor.

The remaining cooking period at the lower temto peratures thoroughly cooksthe meat encased in its natural gelatine coating, bringing about a more thorough cook than that which has previously been thought possible. The total time of cooking varies, of course; with the size oi! as the ham varying from approximately fourteen hours for a ten pound ham to approximately twenty-two hours for a twenty pound ham. In all cases the cock is. carried on until the entirely 'new flavor, characteristic of the product of the present application, is brought about. This condition, for want of a better term, I call "thorough cook". However, it must be distinguished from mere long subjecting of the ham to the action of heat, since by ordinary methods, hams so long subjected to heat would be overcooked. If

cooked in air, it would be dried, if in water, it

would be disintegrated. at least in part.

It will be seen that thecooking period comprises two stages, the first stage being a cookat a relatively higher temperature and the second stage being a cook at a relatively lower temperature for a period of time about three times as long as the first stage.-

Among the many products which may be advantageously treated in accordance with this invention are bone-in hams, boneless-hams, spiced hams, lunch meat, liver cheese, bologna, minced hand, pork tongue, beef tongue, beei brisket, picnics and the like.

Inallcasestheprocesswouldbethesameas has been described ior hams in the foregoing specification. The cooking time of the various products would vary from eight to eighteen .hours, depending upon the sire of the container in which the products is cooked. In every case the cooking time would be from two to three times longer and at temperatures from 10 to 35' higher than any cooking schedule that has been used on these products in'the past.

I have found that any of theseproducts when processed at these high temperatures in the presence of smoke and saturated air for the long period of time in which I keep them in the combined cooking and smoking process, develop a very unusual and desirable flavor entirely dif-- ferent from any flavor. which has been previously produced by other methods of cooking these, products.

Asusedintheclaimsthetermthoroughly cooked" indicates a condition secured by subjecting the meat to the method of cooking described in the foregoing specification and involves a time element relatively longer than usual for cooking the products in question; that g is, at least twice as long as would be considered of heat and smoke in a humid atmosphere for a relatively long period of time, the heat being first carried'at a high enough temperature to developa natural gelatin coating. on the outer surface of the ham within a few hours and thereafter "reducing the temperature to a point at which the ham continues to cook for a period of time sumcient to thoroughly cook the ham, about three times as long a time as is required to bring up the gelatin coating as aforesaid.

3. The method of treating meat which comprises subjecting the meat to the combined simuitaneous action of heat and smoke in a humid atmospherefor a relatively long period of time, the heat being first carried at a high enough temperature todevelop a natural gelatin coating on the outer surface of the meat within a few hours and thereafter reducing to a point at which the meat continues to cook for a perlod of time suflicient to thoroughly cool; the meat, about three times as long a time as is required to bring up the gelatin coating as aforesaid.

4. The method of treating meat which comprises subjecting the meat simultaneously to the action of heat and smoke in a saturated atmosphere, the temperature being maintained at 190 to 195 Fahrenheit until the inside temperature of the meat reaches approximately 125 Fahrenheit, the temperature being then reduced to from 160 to 165 Fahrenheit and maintained at this temperature until the meat is thoroughly cooked.

5. The method of producing a thoroughly cooked ham which comprises subjecting the cured ham to the combined simultaneous action of heat and smoke in a humid atmosphere for a relatively long period of time, the heat being first carried to a temperature between 190 and 195 Fahrenheit until the inside temperature of the ham reaches approximately 125 Fahrenheit to develop a natural gelatin coating on the outer surface of the ham and'thereafter the temperature being reduced to between 160 to 165 Fahrenheit and maintained at this temperature for a period of time sufficient to thoroughly cook the ham, about three times as long a time as is required to bring up the gelatin coating as aforesaid.

6. The method of treating meat which comprises subjecting the meat to the combined simultaneous action of heat and smoke in a humid atmosphere .for a relatively long period of time, the heat being first carried to a temperature between 190" and 195 Fahrenheit until the inside temperature of the meat reaches approximately 125 Fahrenheit to develop a natural gelatin coating on the outer surface of the meat and thereafter the temperature being reduced to between 16 0 and 165 Fahrenheit and maintained at this temperature for a period of time willcient to thoroughly cook the meat, about three times as long a time as is required to bring up the gelatin coating as aforesaid.

- HARRY H. McKEE. 

